Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-12-03

| FROM all we nave DceH aDle 10 ledTIl,
the outlook for placer mining in the
! Territory Of Alaska is not so very
encouraging, the long distance these
mines are located from the sea coast, the
cost of getting to them and Of living after
they are reached, coupled with the
shortness of the working season,
constituting the great impediment to
success in this branch of mining. The
| only placers that seem to amount to
much are found on the upper Yukon;
nor do these, so far as discoveries have
gone, appear to be either rich or exten-
sive In proceeding to that region we
have first the passage by steamer from
San Francisco or other more nOrtherly
ports to Stka, trip made in a few days
and at small cost.
But Sitka reached, the real hardships
begin, the journey thence on being
rough, toilsome, and not altogether free
| from danger. 1t is also very expensive.
After navigating an inlet for hundred
| miles the miner reached the Chillcoat
mountains, where a long and costly
portage has 10 be made, the indians
charging Sl3 per hundred pounds for
packing goods over the rauge, which
has an altitude Of $500 feet above sea
| level. These mountains crossed a series
Of lakes, has to be navigated for a
another hundred miles, which brings
the voyager TO the Yukon, a large, swift
running stream, up which he has to pull
| his boat full 800 miles before reaching
the first diggings. What Of time, labor
and exposure such passage involves, one
can readily imagine when told that the
current Of this river runs at the rate OF
! five miles per hour.
If in that region the miner gets in &C
days Of actual work, it as much as he
can count upon. Yet this, between
going and coming, implies year spent
about the business, unless the miner
attempts alternating in that high lati-
tude, an alternative which few have the
! hardwood 10 try.
While getting to these mines is no
mere pastime, the wages made are by
no means large-that is, if the accounts
given by those who have lately returned
from that region can be depended upon,
and according to which, the earning ofthe
miners do not average more than $500
or S400 for the season; or, to use the
language of these men, thay run from
5000 to $500 The gold, which is scaly
and rather fine, occurs in bars along
the main river and some of its tributaries
These bars, none of which are rich and
some of which are entirely: barren, arc
for the most part small and difficult tC
work, the ground few feet back from
the water being frozen solid to the bed
rock.
The miners who returned recently
from the Yukon diggings, Alaska, while
agreeing as to the richness of the bar
in gold, say that the country is hare
one TO mine in and to prospect in. Th'
shortness of the season is great draw
back, and even when they can work, tn
myriads of mosquitoes make life
burden. These are not inviting condi
tons for an old California miner, few O
whom we opine, will be likely to seel
these distant and forbidding regions a
field of labor, unless it be in search G
quartz deposits, upon which, it seem
: probable, the mining of Alaska wi
have to mainly depend. That som
portions of the country are rich IL yei
mines has been abundantly showr
, though comparatively speaking but littl
prospecting has yet been done there
Although the winters are long an
severe, this will not much interfer
with quartz operations once the mine
are opened and equipped with plant, a
. wood and water are generally IN ampl
supply. As quartz mining country
. the resources of Alaska are certainl
j, considerable and may be very great
, Mining and Scientific Press.
.>.
President Grevy has resigned tn
| prasi1eney of tho Erancb Rapuhlic II